Andrew the Apostle

Andrew "the Apostle" (8-65) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from January to December 65 AD, preceding Ecumenical Patriarch Stachys. The elder brother of Saint Peter, he was the first head of what is now the Orthodox Church. He is the patron saint of Scotland.

Biography
Andrew was born in 8 AD in Bethsaida, Judea, Roman Empire to a family of Hellenic Jews. He was the older brother of Saint Peter, and the two of them became companions ("apostles") of Jesus. Jesus intended to make "fishers of men" by teaching men how to fish for themselves, and Andrew and Peter accompanied him. After the death of Jesus, Andrew preached in Scythia, and he preached along the Black Sea as far as Kiev, becoming a patron saint of Ukraine, Romania, and Russia. In 38 he founded the See of Byzantium, installing Ecumenical Patriarch Stachys as bishop.

In 65 AD, Andrew was arrested by the Roman authorities for his proselytization of the people of the eastern provinces to Christianity. Emperor Nero had Andrew executed in the city of Patras, Roman Greece (present-day Greece) by crucifixion, but his death was unique in that his cross was in an X-shape, and he was not nailed to the cross, but instead bound to it. It was at his own request, as he believed that he was unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross that Jesus had been.

In 832, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland when Angus II of the Picts swore that he would revere Saint Andrew if he was able to defeat the invading army of Aethelstan's Angles in battle at Aethelstanford in East Lothian. He saw a cross in the blue sky, which gave him the idea for the flag of Scotland. The Scots were victorious, and the saltire on the flag of Scotland is meant to honor Saint Andrew's cross.